Method of sewing and tufting



25, 1953 J. K. MCCUTCHEN 2,649,748

METHOD OF SEWING AND TUFTING FABRIC SECTIONS Filed Jan. 17, 1952 2Sheets-Sheet l ags H INVENTOR m PM 1 ATTORNEY Aug. 25, 1953 J MCCUTCHEN2,649,748

METHOD OF SEWING AND TUFTING FABRIC SECTIONS Filed Jan. 17, 1952 2Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR JKMcCutcIwR.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 25, 1953 METHOD OF SEWING AND TUFTING FABRICSECTIONS Joseph Kelly McCutchen, Ellijay, Ga.

Application January 17, 1952, Serial No. 266,860

9 Claims.

My invention relates to a method of and apparatus for sewing togetherthe marginal or zone portions of fabric sections having severed orunsevered tufting formed thereon, and completing the tufting operationupon the attached portions,

providing a tufted product having a unitary appearance.

An important object of the invention is to provide a method of andapparatus for performing work of the above-mentioned character, so thatthe fabric sections being operated upon may be arranged upon oppositesides of the operator, who may conveniently manipulate and guide thesame during the sewing and tufting operations, which are started inclose succession and. continued simultaneously.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby theoperator may conveniently guide the fabric sections for maintaining themarginal portions or zones in proper superposed relation, and the linesof stitching and the added lines of tufting in proper relation.

Other objects and, advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application in whichlike numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout same,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a combined sewing and tufting machineembodying my invention,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same,

Figure 2a is a plan view of fabric sections to be sewed together andtufted,

Figure 3a is a plan view of the assembled fabric sections illustratingthe sewing and tufting steps,

Figure 3 is an end elevation, parts broken away, of the heads of thesewing and tufting machines,

Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a transverse section taken on line 55 of Figure 3,

Figure 6 is a transverse section taken on line 6-6 of Figure 3,

Figure 7 is a transverse section taken on line 7'l of Figure 3,

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the sewed and tufted fabric sections.

In the drawings, the numeral l0 designates a table top, having sectionsof fabric ll supported thereon. These sections of fabric havelongitudinal rows of severed or unsevered tufting l2 and I2, previouslyformed thereon, with the tufts extending upon the bottom faces of thefabric sections. The fabric sections II have bare or untuftedlongitudinal marginal edge or zone portions I3, Figures 2a and 3a,defined by the longitudinal edges of the fabric sections and theadjacent outer lines of tufting I2. In sewing together and tufting themarginal edge or zone portions l3, such zone portions are arranged insuperposed or overlapping relation, as will be more fully explained.

The numeral l4 designates a multiple or twoneedle sewing machine, of aconventional type,

such as shown in Patents 1,917,756, 402,432 and 785,168. The sewingmachine 14 is conventional with the exception that the overhanging armI5 is elongated, to accommodate fabric of considerable width such asabout four feet. The sewing machine comprises a head 16, Figure 3, andI1 is the reciprocatory needle bar driven by the drive shaft l8. Thenumeral I9 designates the spring pressed presser foot bar which israised by a cam lever 20. This presser foot bar carries at its lower enda presser foot 2|, for coaction with the conventional feed dog, 2i. Theneedle bar I] is provided at its lower end with a transverse bar 22having two sewing needles 23 secured thereto. The usual mechanism isarranged beneath the base plate 24 for coaction with the needles 23 forforming the lines of stitching.

The numeral 25 designates a four-needle tufting machine, for formingfour lines of tufting. Any conventional form of multiple needle tuftingmachine may be employed such as is shown in Patent 2,269,837. By tuftingmachine is meant a machine which will produce severed or unsevered linesof tufting. The tufting machine 25 is conventional except that its arm26 is elongated. The tufting machine comprises a head 27, Figure 3,within which is mounted a vertical reciprocatory needle bar 28, operatedby a drive shaft 29. The needle bar 28 is provided at its lower end witha horizontal bar 30, having four tufting needles 3! rigidly mountedthereon. The tufting machine includes the conventional loopers arrangedbeneath the bed 24 and the blades to sever the loops. If desired, theloops may not be severed, in which event the blades are omitted and theloopers are arranged to face in the direction of the feed of the work,as is Well known. Mounted Within the head 27 is a vertical springpressed presser foot bar 32, raised by a pivoted cam lever 33, as shown.Secured to the lower end of the presser foot bar 32 is a presser foot34, Figures 3 and 4, having four openings for the passage of the tuftingneedles. The presser foot 34 coacts with the conventional feed dog 34 tofeed the fabric sections during the operation of the machine.

Arranged beneath the table II] is a tubular drive shaft 35, driven by amotor 36 through the medium of a friction clutch 3?, which is biasedinactive and rendered active by a pivoted lever 38, connected with alink 39, turned by a crank 40, swung by a rock shaft 4i, carrying apedal 42. The shaft 35 has a pulley 43 rigidly mounted thereon, engagedby a belt M, engaging a pulley 45, rigidly mounted upon a shaft 46. Theshaft 46 has a pulley 41 rigidly mounted thereon and this pulley isengaged by a belt 48, passed about pulleys 49 and Eli, rigidly mountedupon the shafts I8 and 29 respectively. It is thus seen that the shaftsl8 and 29 are driven in the same direction and at the same speed. Thesewing machine and tufting machine are therefore synchronized inoperation. Any other suitable means may be employed to drive the sewingmachine and tufting machine at the same speed.

Arranged upon the trailing side of the presser foot 2! and rigidlysecured to the trailing end of the presser foot is a substantiallyhorizontal elongated guide plate 25a, rigidly secured to h presser foot,as stated. This guide plate has its lower face at an elevation above thelower face of the presser foot 2i and is raised and lowered with thepresser foot 25. The guide plate Zia is longitudinally inclined, asshown. When the presser foot 2! has clamping engagement with thesuperposed marginal edge or zone portions 13 of the fabric sections, tocause the feed dogs to feed the fabric sections i i, the guide plate 2la freely slidably contacts with the superposed mar ginal edge or zoneportions is, as will be more fully explained. The presser foot 2! andthe guide plate Zia have the same width and have a width equal to thedistance between the outer lines of tufting i2 of the overlappingmarginal edge or zone portions i3. A guide plate Sta is rigidly securedto the trailing end of the presser foot 34 and is vertically movablewith the presser foot. The guide plate 54m is of the same width as thepresser foot 3 2- and the guide plate Zia, and is of such a width thatits longitudinal edges are disposed in close relation to the outer linesof tufting 12. The guide plate 34a is substantially horizontal and hasits lower face arranged at an elevation above the lower face .of the per foot 34, and .the guide plate 3.4a is slightly inclinedlongitudinally, as shown. The guide plate 34a freely slidably engagesthe overlapping marginal or zone portions i3 and does not have clampingengagement with these portions, like the presser foot.

Arranged near and upon the trailing side of the guide plate 2-ia is atuft'spreading device 2 lb, which is V-shaped and is mounted upon thebed plate 24 and has its ends arranged adjacent to the longitudinaledges of the guide plate 2| a. The purpose of this spreading device Zibis to laterally sweep .the :tufts i2 outwardly so that they will notpass beneath the overlapping marginal or zone portions vI 3.

In the practice .of the method and the operation .of the machine, theoperator sits at he trailing side of the sewing machine i l, withrespect to :the direction of feed of the fabric sections. These fabricsections are long and may be relatively wide, such as four feet, and aredisposed upon opposite sides of the operator who sits between themarginal edge or zone portions '13. ,It is diffcult to manipulate largefabric sections. The leading end portions of the fabric sections, withthe operator sitting between them, are arranged by the operator upon thetable top and the leading ends are manipulated by the hands of theoperator so that the marginal or zone portions iii are passed beneaththe elongated guide plate Zia and these zone portions i3 are arranged insuperposed or overlapping relation. Since the guide plate Zia is at anelevation above the lower face of the presser foot 2!, as explained, theoverlapping marginal or zone portions 13 may be readily shiftedlaterally by the operator, while arranged beneath the guide plate 2m,and the operator moves these zone portions forwardly in a longitudinaldirection and guides them so that the outer lines of tufting i2 are heldat the longitudinal edges of the guide plate 21a. This guiding retainsthe edge portions or zones E3 in proper overlappin relation, and as theassembled overlapping zone portions continue to move forwardly, theypass beneath the presser foot 2!, and the sewing needles 23 form .tWolines of stitching S, which secure together the superposed zones i3. Thework feed means of the sewing machine i4 causes the sewed portions i3 ofthe fabric sections to travel forwardly and these sewed superposed zoneportions 13 pass beneath the guide plate 34a and the fabric sections Iiare so guided by the operator that the lines of tufting ii are heldclose to the longitudinal edges of the guide plate 313a, and the sewedzones i3 pass forwardly beneath the presser foot 34, and the work feedmeans of the tufting machine advances the sewed zones t3. These supposed marginal edge or zone portions i3 are plain or untufted, and thetufting needles 3i form lines of tufting T, which are spaced for thesame distanceas the spacing of the lines of tufting i2 and i2. The outerlines of tufting T are arranged between the lines of tufting i2 and thelines of stitching S, while the inner lines of tufting T are arrangedbetween the lines o stitching .S. In this manner, there are two lines ofstitching 'S and four lines of added tuftin T, formed in the superposedzone portions i3. As shown in Figure 3a, the lines -of stitching Sextend in a trailing direction beyond the ends of the lines of addedtufting 'I', for a distance corresponding to the distance between thesewing machine i4 and the tufting machine 25- The tufting is thereforecompleted Over the s p posed attached zone portions i3, and willcompletely cover these portions, whereby the product will have a unitaryappearance. It is thus apparent that the lines of stitching are startedfirst, and the lines of added tufting are formed in the stitched zoneportions when they reach the tufting machine, and then the lines ofstitching and the lines of tufting continue to be formed simultaneously.and their starting points while longitudinally spaced, are close.together. This is necessary in order that the operator may have theadvantage of sitting between the zone portions [3 of the separate fabricsections before they are stitched together. This places the guiding ofthe fabric sections at th sewing machine and at the tufting machine inreach of the operator. If the fabric sections were first sewed togetherthroughout their entire length, it would be much more diincult to guidethe same for producing the added lines of tufting. Instead of employingseparate sewing machines and tufting machines in close relation, Icontemplate mounting the tufting needles and the sewing needles upon acommon needle bar, with the associated mechanism for completing thework. The tufting needles should be spaced longitudinally of the workfeed for a slight distance beyond the sewing needles, so that the linesof stitching S which are produced before the added lines of tufting arestarted, will have a substantial length, since this properly securestogether the superposed zone portions 13, so that they will feedforwardly in a straight line. The feed dogs of the sewing machine andthe tufting machine are in alignment, and are transversely centered withrespect to the line of work feed at the transverse center of the guideplates. The needles of the sewing machine are transversely spaced withrelation to theneedles of the tufting machine-so that two lines oftufting will be arranged between the lines of stitching and theremaining lines of tufting will be disposed outwardly of the lines ofstitching. While I have shown and described a plurality of lines 'ofstitching, and a plurality of lines of tufting, I contemplate using-asingle line of stitching and a single line of tufting.

It is to be understood that changes may be resorted to in the order ofthe steps of the method, and that various changes may be made in theshape, size and arrangement of parts of the machine, without departingfrom the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections, comprising supporting the tufted fabricsections upon opposite sides of the operator and arranging the untuftedmarginal zone portions next to the operator, effecting a singlelongitudinal feeding of the marginal zone portions and their fabricsections forwardly to a sewing and tufting station, starting arrangingthe forward end portions of the marginal zone portions in. overlappingrelation and continuing such overlapping arranging during the singlelongitudinal feeding, first starting the sewing of a longitudinal lineof stitching in the same overlapped marginal zone portions at the saidstation and during the said single longitudinal feeding, then startingthe sewing of a longitudinal line of tufting in said same overlappedmarginal zone portions at a leading point with respect to the startingof the sewing of the line of stitching and at said station and duringthe said single longitudinal feeding, and continuing the sewing of theline of stitching and the sewing of the line of tufting simultaneouslywhereby the line of stitching and the line of tufting in the said sameoverlapped marginal zone portions are completed during the said singlelongitudinal feedmg.

2. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections, comprising supporting the tufted fabricsections and arranging the untufted marginal zone portions inwardly,effecting a single longitudinal feeding of the marginal zone portionsand their fabric sections forwardly to a station, starting arranging theforward end portions of the marginal zone portions in overlappingrelation and continuing such overlapping arranging during the singlelongitudinal feeding, starting the sewing of a longitudinal line ofstitching in the same overlapped marginal zone portions at the stationand during the single longitudinal feeding, starting the sewing of alongitudinal line of tufting in the same overlapped marginal zoneportions at the said station and during the said single longitudinalfeeding, and continuing the sewing of the line of stitching and thesewing of the line of tufting simultaneously whereby the line ofstitching and the line of tufting in the same overlapped marginal zoneportions are completed during the single longitudinal feeding.

3. The method of sewing andtufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections, comprising effecting the single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their fabric sectionsforwardly to a station in reach of the operator at the trailing side ofthe station, assembling the marginal zone portions when they reach thestation, starting the sewing of a longitudinal line of stitching in theassembled marginal zone portions at the station and during the saidsingle longitudinal feeding, starting the sewing of a longitudinal lineof tufting in the same marginal zone portions at said station and duringthe said single longitudinal feeding, continuing the sewing of the lineof stitching and the sewing of the line of tufting simultaneouslywhereby the line of stitching and the line of tufting in the said samemarginal zone portions are completed during the said single longitudinalfeeding.

4. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections, comprising effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sectionsto a station, arranging the marginal zone portions in overlappingrelation when they reach the station, starting the sewing of alongitudinal line of stitching in the overlapped marginal zone portionat the station and during the said single longitudinal feeding, startingthe sewing of a longitudinal line of tufting in the same overlappedmarginal zone portion at said station and during the said singlelongitudinal feeding, and continuing the sewing of the line of stitchingand the sewing of the line of tufting simultaneously whereby the line ofstitching and the line of tufting in the said same marginal zoneportions are completed during said single longitudinal feeding.

5. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections comprising, effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sectionsto a station, arranging the marginal zone portions in overlappingrelation when they reach the station, starting the sewing oflongitudinal lines of stitching in the overlapped marginal zone portionsat the station and. during the said single longitudinal feeding,starting the sewing of longitudinal lines of tufting in the sameoverlapped marginal zone portions at points near the starting of thesewing of the lines of stitching and at the same station and during saidsingle longitudinal feeding, and continuing the sewing of the lines ofstitching and the sewing of the lines of tufting simultaneously wherebythe lines of stitching and the lines of tufting in said same marginalzone portions are completed during said single longitudinal feeding.

6. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections comprising, effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sectionsto a station, arranging the marginal zone portions in overlappingrelation when they reach the station, starting the sewing of a pluralityof transversely spaced longitudinal lines of stitching in the overlappedmarginal zone portions at the stationand durin the said singlelongitudinal feeding, starting the sewing of a plurality of longitudinallines of tufting in the same overlapped marginal zone portions at pointsnear the starting of the sewing of the lines of stitching and at thesamestation and during said single longitudinal feeding, arrangincertain of the longitudinal lines of tufting between the longitudinallines of stitching and certain of the longitudinal lines of tuftingoutwardly of the sides of said lines of stitching, :and continuing thesewing of the lines of stitchin and the sewing of the lines of tuftinsimultaneously whereby the lines of stitching and the lines of tuftingin :said same marginal zone portions are completed during said singlelongitudinal feeding.

7. The method of sewing :and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections comprising, effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sections,arranging the marginal zone portions in overlapping relation, sewinglongitudinal stitching means in the overlapped marginal :zone portionduring the said single longitudinal feeding, and sewing longitudinaltufting means in the same overlapped marginal zone portions and duringthe said-single longitudinal feeding whereby the longitudinal stitchingmeans and the longitudinal tuftin means are completed during the saidsingle longitudinal feeding in the said same marginal zone portions.

8. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections comprising, effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sections,arranging the marginal zone portions in overlapping relation, startingthe sewing of longitudinal lines of stitching in the overlapped marginalzone portions during the said single longitudinal feeding, starting thesewing of longitudinal lines of tufting in the same overlapped marginalzone portions at a leading point with respect to the starting of thesewing of the lines of stitching, and completing the sewing of lines ofstitching and lines of tufting in the same overlapped marginal zoneportions and during the said single longitudinal feeding.

9. The method of sewing and tufting the untufted marginal zone portionsof tufted fabric sections comprising, effecting a single longitudinalfeeding of the marginal zone portions and their tufted fabric sections,startin arranging the marginal zone portions in overlapping relationadjacent to the leading ends of the marginal zone portions andprogressively continuing such overlapping relation during the saidsingle 1ongitudinal feeding, starting the sewing of longitudinal linesof stitching in the overlapped marginal zone portions adjacent to theirleading ends and progressively continuing the sewing of the longitudinallines of stitching durin said single longitudinal feeding, starting thesewing of longitudinal lines of tufting in the same overlapping marginalzone portions adjacent to their leading ends and progressivelycontinuing the sewing of the longitudinal lines of tufting during thesaid longitudinal feeding whereby the trailing portions of the marginalzone portions are disconnected prior to the sewing of the lines ofstitching and the sewing of the lines of tufting in said trailingportions.

JOSEPH KELLY MCCUTCHEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 326,348 Theinert et a1 Sept. 15, 1885 1,915,235 McCollum June20, 1933 2,160,094 Schmiedel May 30, 1939 2,180,073 Smith Nov. 14, 19392,584,493 Olsen Feb. 5, 1952

